Interview with Boyd Matson on the Unethical Trade in Wild African Grey Parrots on National Geographic Weekend... (World Parrot Trust)

Interview with Boyd Matson on the Unethical Trade in Wild African Grey Parrots on National Geographic Weekend... (World Parrot Trust)

African grey parrots are the most populous non-human Africans outside of Africa… These charismatic parrots are our most important ambassadors, charming people around the world with vocabularies of up to 200 words and advanced cognitive abilities. For at least 50 years, grey parrots have been among the most internationally-traded wild birds on earth. CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) trade records and the most up-to-date research estimate that more than 4 million grey parrots have been captured for the wild-caught bird trade, for their feathers and heads, or simply for bushmeat. Local extinctions have occurred throughout their range with grey parrots disappearing from forests in Uganda, Rwanda, Cameroon, Guinea, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Congo-Brazzaville, Central African Republic, and elsewhere in central and West Africa. We are removing this iconic parrots from the map of Africa by capturing an estimated 21% of the global population every year. Why, in 2009, did South Africans import just over 5,000 wild-caught grey parrots from the DRC and then export over 25,000 grey parrots in the same year? Why do we need so many wild-caught African grey parrots when we can breed them so effectively?

Please listen to this interview with Boyd Matson about the unethical and unsustainable trade in wild-caught African grey parrots on National Geographic Weekend in November 2011 (photos and video provided by the World Parrot Trust and PASA)…

How many wild-caught bird trade are traded internationally every year?

In 1975, an mind-boggling estimated 7.5 million wild-caught birds were traded around the world. Thousands upon thousands of birds, reptiles, fish and wildlife at international airports, ports and borders resulted in CITES and by the 1990s estimated global trade had come down to less than 5 million wild birds per year. Over recent decades trade figures have dropped due to the halt on wild-caught bird imports into the European Union and the tightening of international laws controlling the wildlife trade. To put today’s global trade in wild-caught birds, which stands at 1-2 million per annum, an estimated 750 million chickens, ducks, turkeys and other poultry are traded internationally each year. The modern world owes a huge debt to birds and a great way of paying this back is protecting wild birds from the wild-caught bird trade. As can se seen in this series of photographs, the wild birds always lose out and this needs to change…

Photos courtesy of World Parrot TrustPhotos courtesy of World Parrot TrustPhotos courtesy of World Parrot TrustPhotos courtesy of World Parrot Trust

Why use wild-caught African grey parrots that are potentially diseased?

People around the world associate parrots with cages and do not instantly visualize them flying free, high above the tree canopy in large, squawking flocks. Budgies and cockatiels are the most popular pet birds on earth followed by the grey parrot. We are now very good at breeding all three and do not need to rely on wild populations. The only problem is that the commercial bird breeding business plan today is better suited to short-lived, small-bodied parrots and finches, not grey parrots that live for up to 80 years and take a long time before they start breeding. Budgie and cockatiel breeders are so successful that wild-caught budgies and cockatiels traders cannot compete with them. As a well-known aviculturalists says: “You can breed cockatiels in a shoebox almost right away.” The European Union banned the importation of wild-caught birds after a few scares with H5N1 avian influenza appearing at airports in imported wild-caught birds, so there is a very strong food security and animal health argument for banning the trade in wild-caught birds around the world. H5N1 cost billions of dollars to bring under control and destroyed many local economies based on the poultry industry. Why then do we risk importing wild-caught grey parrots?

Grey parrots only start breeding at about 10 years old and need to be parent-raised for several years after hatching. Veterinary bills, housing costs, and good quality food over 10 years costs a huge amount of money. This makes using 10-year-old captive-bred grey parrots in commercial breeding facilities very difficult. This is not to saw that dedicated aviculturalists do not establish breeding facilities that sustainably supply grey parrot chicks at low prices to local and international markets. As a result of easy, cheap, legal access to wild-caught grey parrots in South Africa, “bird mills” have sprung up everywhere that use hundreds of wild-caught breeding pairs to produce thousands upon thousands of eggs and pre-weaned chicks for export. Healthy wild parrots are captured in tropical forests in the DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, Cameroon and elsewhere, transported to markets, sexed and selected by veterinarians, and then sold to importers. Middlemen then sell shipments of 500-1,000 grey parrots for $60,000-100,000. This initial capital outlay is a fraction of the costs over 10 years to raise a grey parrot for breeding. All a misguided entrepreneur needs is a simple breeding facility and they have a lucrative grey parrot export business on their hands. In South Africa, organized crime has taken over the grey parrot export industry and have established global syndicates linked to Singapore, USA, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Bahrain, Philippines and Taiwan. With the criminals has come a well-financed lobby to protect the trade in wild-caught birds and the rapid decay in the overall standards and practices in the South African avicultural industry.

A view into the hell that these “Near Threatened” grey parrots have to go through before being quarantined for months and then condemned to a shortened life in a “bird mill”. (World Parrot Trust / PASA)Grey parrots make wonderful companions and can become a member of the family. (Karen Grace/Cape Parrot Project)Confiscated, wild-caught African grey parrots at the Lwiro Primate Sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (World Parrot Trust / PASA)Grey parrot that has been neglected. Is this a suitable fate for a very intelligent, wild-caught bird? (Laura Tomini/Cape Parrot Project)

“African Grey Mafia”

A small group of fraudsters and smugglers, the “African Grey Mafia” have dominated the trade in parrots and monkeys in South Africa for the past two decades. This trade is conservatively valued at more than US$50 million per year. Foreign currency profits are often re-invested into the importation of wild-caught endangered species such as Scarlet macaws (through the Philippines) and cockatoos (through New Zealand). In 2007, Phillipus Fourie was busted by customs officials at Auckland International Airport with 44 endangered cockatoo eggs hidden in special compartments sewn into a vest. In 2008, another young South African attempted to smuggle hundreds of rare Madagascan chameleons, snakes, lizards and frogs in his jacket and luggage. We do not have much left in our forests, oceans, grasslands and wetlands… The only remedy in Africa or anywhere else for that matter is to halt all further trade in wild-caught birds and find alternative livelihoods for local communities previously dependent on this trade. The days of being blindly pro-trade are over, the wild-caught bird trade is no longer a viable source of income for remote rural communities. Most legitimate aviculturalists that do not use wild-caught birds and parrots as breeding stock have had to become non-commercial breeders, as they cannot match the low prices of the syndicates that often avoid customs and VAT to increase their margins. The message to the South African government is clear… Halt the wild-caught bird trade in South Africa and support the development of a sustainable avicultural industry that does not rely on wild-caught birds…

Excessive import levels and the death of 687 grey parrots on a commercial flight from Johannesburg to Durban on Christmas Eve in 2010 resulted in a moratorium of the issuance of CITES import permits for wild-caught grey parrots. The exponential growth in the use of wild-caught grey parrots in “bird mills” in South Africa has ended, but many facilities continue to operate on smallholdings and farms far away from law enforcement that use smuggled, wild-caught parrots and monkeys. It seems everything we do simply drives this lucrative business opportunity further underground. When it became too difficult to import wild-caught grey parrots by air into South Africa, we started getting reports of grey parrots being smuggled by road from Namibia and by foot from Mozambique into South Africa. Parrots hidden with plastic toys or motor parts, and in amongst fresh produce. In April 2011, a military petrol on the border between South Africa and Mozambique heard parrots screeching at midnight in the remote bush along the border fence, They discovered four barefoot Mozambican nationals carrying 4 crates with 50-60 grey parrots in each. The border patrol gave chase and one crate of 60 parrots disappeared into the cool night air, while the rest were confiscated and quarantined for 6 months before being surrendered to the Mozambican authorities, who then gave the parrots to the suspected smuggler. This is going to turn into a war unless global leaders step in to control this unsustainable, unjustifiable and unethical trade in one of our planet’s treasures, Africa’s grey parrot…

Grey parrots flying away from a communal drinking point. These are most often the capture sites for hundreds upon hundreds of these parrots using nylon snares and fishing nets. (Diana May)Confiscated, wild-caught grey parrots at the Limbe Wildlife Centre in Cameroon. (World Parrot Trust / PASA)

The way forward…

The upgrading of the two grey parrot species to CITES Appendix I has been undermined every times by the perception that sustainable harvesting of grey parrots is the only way to effectively conserve them. This notion is somewhat counter-intuitive and anachronistic, but the new generation of statesman and conservationists in Africa and around the world are realizing this. South Africa has been allowed to become a global hub for the wild-caught bird trade over the last few decades. The trade in wild-caught birds in Africa has always been about exploitation. In 1992 the United States banned the importation of wild-caught birds due to concerns around disease and commitments to biodiversity conservation. Australia, Canada, and New Zealand followed shortly after and the European Union banned this trade in 2006. Since 1992 the South African avicultural and bird export industries have boomed and now we have Africans to blame for the exploitation of Africa’s natural heritage. New hubs are springing up in the Middle and Far East as emerging markets fuel demand. Trade levels needs to be brought under control without stimulating poaching. Welfare issues like dehydration and suffocation in cramped transport crates need to be addressed. Africa is just now waking up to the reality that we have been taken advantage of for hundreds of years. The new statesmen of Africa understand the position of the continent – we have everything the world needs… We must support visionary leaders that guard natural resources and develop partnerships to better protect wildlife populations across borders. We are already seeing border fences dropping to accommodate “trans-frontier parks and conservation areas”. The growing perception that Africa’s grand wild places like the Serengeti, Okavango, Congo, Chobe, and Kruger are part of our global identity, national pride and natural heritage will save these wildernesses. African grey parrots are found in millions of homes around the world and should be considered our most important ambassadors…

Brown-headed parrots with their wings broken being fed rotten corn at a market in Mozambique. Parrots treated like this before a commercial flight would be very likely to die. (Steve Boyes/World Parrot Trust Africa)It appears that this little brown-headed parrot was wild-caught and then left in this cage by itself outside a nursery. Is it ethical to do this to a wild parrot? Some people say that they are saving these parrots from forests that cannot support them? (Bridget Davidtsz/Cape Parrot Project)Young woman selling Madagascar lovebirds at a market. Trade in wild-caught birds is a clear and present threat to their forest biodiversity. (Mark Brown/University of KwaZulu-Natal)

Please join the Wild Bird Trust page on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to receive all wild bird photo updates and news from our research and conservation projects in the field. Submit your own photos and become part of this important public awareness campaign to bring the magic of wild birds to the world. Prepare to be blown away every week… The Wild Bird Trust was founded in South Africa in August 2009 with the primary objective of keeping birds safe in the wild. The trust aims to encourage the use of flagship endangered bird species as “ecosystem ambassadors” in their indigenous habitat. The trust focusses on linking ordinary people with conservation action in the field through innovative marketing campaigns and brand development. Saving Africa’s birds is going to take a determined effort from all of us.

Comments

I have watched the 3 part documentary on You tube…It was most disturbing…The link provided does not take you to the page where you can donate…Please provide details

Africangrey lover

Virginia

December 20, 2014, 6:28 pm

When I saw the pic of the man hold the African greys being held the is not right to hold them African greys like that you could break its wing

narges mahboobi

Iran, Tehran

November 2, 2014, 1:22 am

Hi,
I’m Narges Mahboobi from Iran. 4 years before I bought an African grey parrot (Casco) here in Iran. Now I love it as my child and worry about his future. I would like it to be free. Please help me to return it in his nature or in a garden or place that is good for his easy of life.
Yours,
Mahboobi

JB

UK

April 9, 2014, 3:05 pm

Great job. When the man comes and asks for a help – we do help. These birds cant ask. You have to have a heart to hear their cry.

Jamie Smith

London

December 26, 2013, 4:03 am

Classic Steve Boyes post – full of inaccuracies. This post does no justice to National Geographic and reduces a serious topic to hot air and wild claims.

Max M

WorldWide

April 16, 2013, 11:48 am

If you are hungry, your kids are hungry and you got no money to buy bread, milk or potatoes then you will do the exact same thing to make money to survive. They dont do it because they are bored or hate those birds.

Western society have no damn clue what its like to live in an anarchy, and people from the so “financially stable” countries are the dumb morons that buy those birds.

Mozambique and Congo dont buy them, they got them in their backyard, but Canada, USA, Europe etc, thats the people that provide the supply. Business 101, supply demand. If you dont buy they wont do it, very simple.

Same thing applies for diamonds, except there people are being mistreated just like those birds, but every woman wants one, so its kind of a vicious circle. Never ends.

Easy to judge and get mad at people that do it when you sit in your warm home, running water and food in your fridge.

Not quite the same tho if you dont have simple bread / milk etc, im not even talking about running hot water, king size bed with memory foam and you biggest concern is that the government will restrict how many guns you can own, when there is not even a direct threat to your life!? you are not in a war, you got an effective police force right around the corner, so where is the law and morality here?

For as long as ignorance will tramp common sense nothing will get fixed.

Julia Marshall

Kitchener, Ontario

February 25, 2013, 10:24 pm

I can’t believe how people treat animals for money… Those poor grey’s …

Leandro Almeida

NYC

February 16, 2013, 3:04 am

Some of these pictures are hard to look at by a African Grey Owner. It’s time governments of the world Reconize ,respect and protect the animals.
For smart animals like African greys, the person before buying one, should be psychologically evaluated, and answer a questionary about the bird. Just so they really know what they are getting into. (SERIOUSLY). May you Steve write a international bill to be presented at UN so that every nation should respect the animals of the land that belongs to the intere planet! Thank you for your work.

Elisa

México

February 3, 2013, 11:39 am

Thank you Steve for all your job and love for nature. Wish there were more people like you. Here in my country you can get an endagered parrot for $50 usd. I see them at homes, in small cages, under the sun, and I really REALLY suffer. But they are money to people… most don’t care. BEST WISHES.

Thanks so much, Fawn. We recently separated the species and I should have corrected the parrot picture labels by tghis weekend. I would appreciate any assistance you can offer in regard t the typis…

Fawn Bowden

February 1, 2013, 4:05 pm

All the greys labeled as “Timneh” are not, they’re Congo African Greys……anyone familiar with the two should have noticed mistake right away. Where are the citations for all the *facts* that are quoted? Not to mention the typos, sheesh. Way to post a craptastic article :/

Posting Rules

Opinions expressed in blogs are those of the blogger and/or the blogger's organization, and not necessarily those of the National Geographic Society. Bloggers and commenters are required to observe National Geographic's community rules.

NewsWatch Blog

National Geographic Society has discontinued publication of the National Geographic News Watch Blog. Readers who wish to follow the following bloggers may do so on their personal websites, found by clicking on their names below:Karl AmmannNeal LinebackMarcy MendelsonElissa Sursara